1Malaysia not about racial equality, insists Umno sec-gen

ARCHIVES 2010

By admin-s On Sep 19, 2010

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

Not only has Prime Minister Najib Razak made a complete U-turn from an earlier attempt to distance his Umno party from ultra-Malay rights group Perkasa, his trusted lieutenants now even say Najib’s prized 1Malaysia plan is not about racial equality.

The latest comments from Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan were immediately denounced by Pakatan Rakyat leaders.

“This must surely be the biggest joke. Najib. Tengku Adnan and Nazri Aziz are now the 3 Malay stooges while MCA, MIC and Gerakan are the 3 non-Malay stooges. This is BN – forever racially divided and dominated by Umno to the extent that it can anytime slap Soi Lek, Tsu Koon and Samy in the face and yet the three will still bow and say ‘thank you, one more time please’,” PKR strategic director Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

He was referring to MCA president Chua Soi Lek, Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon and MIC chief S Samy Vellu.

Explain 1Malaysia

Najib’s furious backpedalling follows a demand from Perkasa to explain what 1Malaysia was or face losing Malay support for Umno and BN in the coming general election.

“Perkasa is very worried that if there are not enough efforts to explain the 1 Malaysia concept, it will cause certain communities to reject Umno and BN. Perkasa has feedback from the Malay grassroots that this concept is still confusing,” Perkasa secretary-general Syed Hassan Syed Ali was reported as saying.

“Among some non-Muslim communities, Perkasa finds that they believe the 1 Malaysia policy is an effort to equalise all races in terms of sharing the nation’s wealth and no race is given special treatment. All races are considered the same.”

Indeed, the brouhaha over Perkasa intensified when a day after Malaysia Day, Najib moved to deny that Umno was cutting its ties to Perkasa. His excuse – which is now being seized on by Umno leaders to help him save face – is that Perkasa is an NGO and not a political party.

“Nazri should accept that Perkasa is just an NGO. The Malays know how to differentiate between political parties and NGO,” wrote the Awang Selamat editorial entitled Alahai Nazri in the Umno-own Minnguan Malaysia, the Sunday edition of Utusan.

“Awang is not surprised the Chinese press have gone all out to condemn Dr Mahathir. This is because the Malay leaders themselves paved the way for them to do so.”